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to begin with? right now, a new ruling hits the washington redskins where it hurts in the wallet. will this be enough to finally convince the team to change its name? hello, i'm whole reporting from washington. we start with new details on a possible american response in iraq, as the pentagon is now reviewing a list of potential isis targets in iraq. let's bring in our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. does this mean the u.s. is closer to deciding on air strikes in iraq? >> by all accounts, wolf, the president has not made a decision. officials across the administration telling tim sciutto, our white house team and here at the pentagon no decision has been made about air strikes. here's what we do know at this hour. a draft list of targets has been drawn up. it is being reviewed at the highest levels of the u.s.

military. very important to say draft list of targets. it will be reviewed. it will be analyzed. it will be tweaked. it willing changed. all of this depends on the president, of course, giving any order to go ahead with air strikes. but the military has to be ready in advance of any presidential order. so what they are doing is trying to find isis targets in iraq that they could strike that would make a difference on the ground. very tough to do. this is basically a target list of personnel and vehicles and weapons, almost constantly on the move. no fixed sites. no command and control centers. no intelligence headquarters. no regular military air bases or airfields. no traditional targets. the pentagon saying it would be very tough, the target list would be tough, but they are assembling it, they are looking at it. the options, if they decided to go, if the president does that, could be bombs from fighter jets, cruise missiles from navy

ship, drones, any of that. important to say, there are other options besides the kinetic option for the military. they're also looking at upping the number of u.s. special forces in iraq to train and advise the iraqis. trying to look at whatever they can do that would make a fundamental difference to breaking isis' grip, isis' current momentum. >> we know the president will meet with top congressional leaders, 3:00 p.m. eastern, over at the white house, presumably to review various options. to see what he has to say, if anything, about that, after that meeting. political pressure certainly is mounting on the president. new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll released overnight shows only 37% of americans approve of the way the president is handling foreign policy. a whopping 57% disapprove. that's an all time low for this poll. it does not necessarily reflect all the latest developments in iraq. the president clearly is facing

a disillusioned american public. let's discuss what's going on with our chief political analyst gloria borger. a lot at stake here, gloria, for the president, right now. 37% in this new nbc news poll on foreign policy. that's not a good number. >> look, second-term presidents often turn to foreign policy to kind of solidify their legacies, and this has become a problem for this president, whether it's the question of what he did in syria, the question of the deal for bergdahl and of course now iraq and who got us into these problems in the first place. republicans charge that the president was tnot trying to negotiate with maliki enough to get a status of forces agreement and the president said no, we did, and we couldn't. now the questions about the withdrawal from afghanistan and whether we should actually leave a residual force there. he's got a lot of problems on the foreign policy front. it's a leadership issue front and center. that has to spill over, wolf,

into questions about whether he's going to get anything through on his domestic agenda. >> certainly will. i want to play two sound bites. one from dick cheney, he's a former vice president. one from harry reid, the senate majority leader. dick cheney wrote a scathing attack on the president with his daughter, liz cheney, in "the wall street journal" today. i'm going to play this little clip from the former vice president. >> we stand at a critical moment in the life of our nation. the policies of the last six years have left america diminished and weakened. our enemies no longer fear us. our allies no longer trust us. >> they're announcing a new conservative grassroots organization. the scathing an criticism of the president's iraq policy resulted in this statement from harry reid. >> the former vice president of the united states who clearly was the chief architect of the war. mr. president, if there's one thing that this country does not

need, it's that we should be taking advice from dick cheney on wars. being on the wrong side of dick cheney means being on the right side of history. >> senate majority leader on the senate floor. i read that article in "the wall street journal." i didn't see any contrition from the cheneys, that they got it wrong in 2003, there were no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. there was no link between saddam hussein and 9/11. there was no nuclear program really under way in iraq, there was none of of that mentioned in that article. >> so there are two fights going on. one is sort of the american public has decided, which is two-thirds of the american public believe that we shouldn't have been in iraq, we didn't need to be in iraq. and so it was kind of useless for cheney to even mention that. because it's a lose argument with the american public. the question now has turned to who lost iraq. okay. aside from the fact that the public believes we shouldn't be

there, who lost iraq, and what dick cheney is saying is that it's the administration's blundering that lost iraq. let me read you something else from that op-ed. he said mr. obama had only to negotiate an agreement to leave behind some residual american forces, training and intelligence capabilities to help security the peace. instead, he abandoned iraq and watching american defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. the white house will say we did not abandon iraq. we tried to negotiate that agreement. we couldn't get the agreement we needed. maliki wasn't doing what we wanted. he was your guy, maliki, george w. bush, and that's why we had the problem. you're the american public here. you're like, here they are, squabbling over who lost iraq. and the american public is going to throw up its hands and say, you know what, honestly, we don't care would lost iraq, we

just don't want to go back to iraq. >> gloria, stand by, because we'll see if we actually hear from the president later today. we'll be monitoring ways going on at the white house. gloria borger, thank you. now to the battle happening right now on the ground in iraq. the iraqi military claims it has successfully repelled a bloody attack by isis forces on the country's main oil refinery in the town of daishe. control of that refinery is critical because iraq's economy is dependent on oil. iraq's prime minister said today the militants will be defeated, despite government forces being hit with, quote, the initial shock of isis offensive. the government is still facing major challenges as militants fight to take over baqubah, a city just 30 miles from the capital of iraq, baghdad. our arwa damon joins us live from the northern iraqi town of erbil. does the prime minister nuri al maliki's assessment really match

up to what you're seeing and hearing on the ground? >> not necessarily, wolf. now, those battles are quite fierce, centering around the strategically located city of baqubah. difficult to determine at this stage exactly what's happening there. it doesn't seem as if the iraqi security forces have managed to gained significant territory. when it companies to the country's largest oil refinery, there, the government says it has the situation under control, but cnn spoke to two employees that used to work at the refinery. based in the city not too far away. and they say the battle is ongoing. that it is isis that actually controls the refinery. if isis somehow gets oil flowing once again, that's what's going to add even more money to what is considered to be the world's richest terrorist organization. what the prime minister really needs to do at this stage is stop making these types of inflammatory statements and

really try to reach out not just to the population, but especially to the sunni opposition. this is a problem that has plagued him throughout both of his positions as the country's prime minister. his inability to reach out to the sunni population. very polarizing policies that continuously alienated the sunni population are one of the key factors that contributed to the disaster the country finds itself in right now. >> among other things, arwa, as you well know, there are reports about 40 nationals from india who have been working at a construction company in mosul, the second largest city in iraq, they've been kidnapped, some turkish construction workers in kirkuk, which is full of oil, they've also been taken captive. what do you know about these reports? >> well, it does seem that isis when it was first sweeping through mosul and some other areas did manage to kidnap

dozens of turkish citizens. also, dozens of turkish citizens based at the turkish consulate in mosul. the government at this point asking the media to backoff from reporting too heavily off this because there are concerns of the safety of the hostages. there are a lot of third country nationals spread out through dwrothroughout this country, people who used to work in the oil refineries, various other positions, trying to support numerous projects on the ground here. we're talking about a complex battlefield, one that does not have defined front lines where any group is going to seize upon an opportunity to try to kidnap westerners, kidnap foreigners and cause even more havoc. >> iraq's whole economy, as you know, really depends on oil production and oil exports. if that goes away, that country further deteriorates into chaos. and that possibility clearly

exists, doesn't it, arwa? >> it does. there's also great concerns about the oil fields that exist in the southern part of the country. yes, that is predominantly shia compared to the rest of iraq, that has been relatively secure. but great concerns the sunni insurgency could make its way down there. or even if they launched one significant impact against one of the western oil companies based here that could potentially send everyone for the exit doors out of iraq, and without that critical oil revenue, upon which the vast majority of the iraqi economy is dependent, this government would find itself in even more trouble than it's in right now, wolf. >> and if that iraqi oil export revenue dries up if iraqi oil production dries up, that's going to raise the price per barrel and people are going to be paying a lot more money for gasoline here in the united states and around the world. bringing the benghazi suspect to

justice in the united states, republicans are calling for a detour to gitmo. up next, we'll take a closer look at the legal issues. our own jeffrey toobin is standing by. later, hillary clinton opens up on a wide range of issues during that exclusive town hall event with cnn. the moderator, christiane amm amanpo amanpour, join us live. where you get to do whatever it is that you love to do! ♪ booking.com booking.yeah!

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and the fbi. libya has called the capture a kidnapping and says he should be tried in libya, not in the united states. let's discuss the legalities. joining us from new york, our chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin. if libya wants him, is it okay for the u.s. legally to send in special operations forces, fbi agents, go into libya, snatch him, put him on a boat in the mediterranean and bring him back to the united states? >> that's up to the united states. the libya and the united states can have a diplomatic dispute about this. but a defendant himself cannot go to court in washington, d.c. where this case is going to be prosecuted and say, oh, i prefer to be prosecuted in libya. he is he has no challenge, he has no standing to challenge

this. he has no right to object. >> the fact is, there's so much chaos in libya right now, there's a semblance of a government but not much, as we all know, those of us who know what's going on in libya. also, u.s. officials say khattalah has not been read his so-called miranda rights on that ship or after he was captured. republicans say he shouldn't be read his miranda rights so he can be integrated. how does this all fit in, if he's not going to guantanamo, there won't be a military tribunal, he's supposedly coming right here to washington, d.c. where he will appear in a federal court. explain the miranda rights issue and wahat's going to happen to him. >> people need to understand that miranda warnings have a specific purpose. all they mean is that if you don't get miranda warnings, those statements that you make can't be introduced against you in your criminal trial. but what the obama administration has said is we question these terrorism suspects without miranda

warnings, and we use that information to search for other terrorists, to develop information to build other cases. all of that is completely permissible. the only thing you can't do with statements obtained without a miranda warning is use it against this defendant. so anything he says can be used by law enforcement, can be used by our intelligence officials. it just can't be introduced in court against him until he gets his warning. >> you're a former federal prosecutor, why was a decision made to file this complain here in washington, d.c. district court in washington, presumably he'll be brought here. >> well, because we now have a fairly established history of prosecuting acts of terrorism against american targets. which are overseas. in the united states. the embassy bombings in africa. the bombing of the "uss cole." all of that was prosecuted inside the united states. now, sometimes they're

prosecuted in new york. in suburban virginia. in washington, d.c. this case will be in washington. but it's well established now that if you attack an american target abroad, you can be prosecuted over here. and, frankly, the record of the department of justice in prosecuting these people is a heck of a lot better than the record of prosecutions in guantanamo, in military tribunals, which are hopelessly tangled up with procedural issues. these trials in the justice department go smoothly and apparently very successfully. >> jeffrey, thanks very much for that. coming up right after the break, as all of you know, cnn hosted an excellent town hall meeting with hillary clinton to talk about her new book and major issues. but the events sounded a lot like a warm-up for the run for the presidency.

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the fastest speed dial. the fastest office plant. so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business internet and get the fastest wifi included. comcast business. built for business. hillary clinton says she has not decide to run for president in 2016. you wouldn't necessary he know that during the exclusive town hall meeting with cnn. billed as part of her book too the event looked and sounded a lot like a campaign appearance as she fielded questions, staked out her positions. she said a run for the white house takes a back seat right now to becoming a grandmother. >> i'm not making a decision in part because i do have this very exciting life changing experience coming up in the

fall. i don't want to be looking past it. you know, i don't want to be meeting my new grandchild and having somebody calling me and saying, oh, you got to do this, that and the other. i'm just not going to do that. so i will make this decision based on how i feel about it and what i believe i can do. >> our chief international correspondent christiane amanpour did an excellent job moderating the town hall meeting with the former secretary. christiane is joining us from new york. what was your takeway from the event, christiane, what stands out in your mind, at least one defining moment? >> i think there were a lot. i think she has obviously been interviewed a lot around this book. i think this format was very different. she was asked questions from the audience and that provoked some other questions from me. and on a lot of substantive issues, i thought she made some

news. we asked her about benghazi. she was pleased, clearly, that one of the alleged masterminds of the attack that killed chris stevens and the other three americans has now been capture and will be brought to justice. we didn't have time really to go into the biggest security issues, which actually stem from the fact that america did not lead from the front in this, was in support of french and european missions, therefore had no leverage to implement a post-gadhafi plan on the ground. once you win a war, you have to win the peace as well. that was not done. that was a problem. syria, which we're now seeing bleeding over into iraq, and that is the story of the moment, the al qaeda offshoot has taken control of a vast portion of iraq and of course syria and now this is being very -- it's very dangerous. today in the british parliament, prime minister cameron said, don't you think we can sit on the sidelines, don't you think that they will come back.

we know these people are coming back to want to attack britain and i know security officials and other counterterrorism officials here in the united states are worried about that as well. hillary clinton came out and said, listen, a couple of years ago, i suggested that we arm and train the moderate opposition. in part, to isolate these extremists. so she drew a very clear line between herself and president obama on this. and then on domestic issues, you know, she took on the question about guns. she said absolutely, there needs to be a reinstatement of an assault weapons ban. we didn't ask her about background checks. we know the vast majority of americans including the vast majority of gun owners say there should be background checks on those kinds of things. wolf. >> and get that approved by congress. among the other topic, you raised and touched upon, comprehensive immigration reform. she certainly addressed that issue, including the dramatic influx of these young kid, unaccompanied kids, coming into the states, crossing the border

from mexico, but originally from central america. listen to what she said. >> they should be sent back as soon as it can be determined who responsible adults in their families are. there are concerns about whether all of them can be sent back. but i think all of them who can be should be reunited with their family. we have to send a clear message. just because your child gets across the border that doesn't meant child gets to stay. we don't want to send a message that is contrary to our laws or will encourage more children to make that dangerous journey. >> all right. so how did that play with the audience over there at the -- in washington? >> the question was followed up by me with a strong question from the audience who wanted to know about the immigration reform that has been promised. it is stuck in the political doldrums, not moving anywhere now. she says, whether i get into office or not or i run for

another office or not this is something i will continue to speak out about, because that is one of the defining domestic policy situations that needs to be sorted out. but then when i pressed her on this for children, who we watched in horror come over across the board, get shunted off into these makeshift shelter, and i asked her whether they should stay, and that was her answer. that is where she is on the issue now. no matter what we might think of, the personal and humanitarian crisis being promoted by these kids coming over and looking so desperate once they get here. >> she said if you let these kids stay, that's only going to encourage more parents to send their kids by themselves across the border. simply going to go on and on. a very sensitive tough issue obviously. good work yesterday. we'll stay in close touch with you. up next, the debate over what to do with the suspect in the benghazi attack. i'll ask congressman peter king

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he's accused being involved in the 2012 attack in benghazi, libya, that claimed the lives of four americans. president obama says abu khattalah will face the american justice system, but there are critics out there, including some republicans, who are loudly calling for a detour, don't bring him to washington, take him to the u.s. military prison at guantanamo bay in cuba. joining us, the new york republican congressman peter king. on the intelligence committee. what do you think, is it right to bring him to face trial, face justice in a federal court in washington, or do you believe he should go to guantanamo? >> i strongly believe he should go to guantanamo. i don't believe it's going to happen. at the very least, we should do, before he's turned over to civilian authorities, the fbi and all of our intelligence agencies, cia and others, should interrogate him as long as they have to. i'm not that concerned about a criminal conviction. we're going to get that

ultimately. it's important we get as much intelligence out of him as possible. both what happened, who planned it, how it happened. who else in that area could be involved with al qaeda or ansar al sharia and also plans for any future attacks. i strongly believe the fbi, the high intensity interrogators they have, should be allowed to interrogate him as long as they have to and any of the other members of the intelligence agencies. and not be worrying about miranda rights. because this information doesn't have to be used against him at trial. it's to get intelligence to save american lives. >> i don't know if you heard earlier, jeffrey be too be, our senior legal analyst, he pointed out accurately that the u.s. criminal justice system has a very good record dealing with these alleged terrorists. they convict them. they send them to prisons. it's a lot easier in effect to do that than send him to a military tribunal at gitmo. >> we're talking about two different things. my concern right now is the

conviction. one way or the other, this should be a relatively easy conviction to get. i'm talking about to get intelligence that can be used to stop terrorist attacks, to find out what the makeup of ansar al sharia is and to find out how these benghazi attacks came out. my focus is not touch on the conviction but on getting the intelligence out of him, and that can take long, sustained, intensive integration. that's what i'm calling for. >> i also -- >> i'm sorry. >> finish your thought. >> i think the administration may have announced this capture too quickly. you know, why tip off his comrades that he's been captured? i would just assume leave them in doubt to make it easier for our armed forceses to capture his cohorts in this. >> that's a fair point. let me talk about iraq with you for a moment. the president's meeting with the top congressional leadership over at the white house, 3:00 p.m. eastern. they're going to review

presumably u.s. options. very quickly, do you believe the u.s. should launch air strike against these isis insurgent targets in iraq? >> i think we should launch whatever air strikes are necessary to stop the offensive by isis. that may include putting special operators on the ground so we can target, so we can get proper targeting. >> that means boots on the ground, congressman, you're ready to send u.s. troops back into iraq? >> as a practical matter, if we have to put special ops on the ground to make sure the bombing attacks work, yes, we should do that. i'm not talking about combat troops. i'm not talking about, you know, combat infantry here. i'm talking about special operators who can target the enemy. it's one of the problems when president obama pulled everybody out of iraq, we have very little intelligence to what's actually happening on the ground. if these attacks are going to be effective and not just result in civilian casualties or missing the target, i think we may have

to have spotters on the ground. we have to make sure it works. not just do something for the sake of a show. >> i want you to stand by, if you can, congressman. i've got a few more questions about what's going on with iraq with you. we'll continue our conversation after this. "wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad?" so we gave people the power of the review. and now angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. you can easily buy and schedule services from top-rated providers. conveniently stay up to date on progress. and effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our snapfix app. visit angieslist.com today. ♪ and it feels like your lifeate revolves around your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira adalimumab. humira has been proven to work for adults who have tried other medications but still experience

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the fastest office plant. so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business internet and get the fastest wifi included. comcast business. built for business. welcome back. we're talking with congressman peter king, republican, of new york, house homeland security committee, also the intelligence committee. i didn't realize there was a little feud going on, congressman, between you and senator ted cruz. you've been critical of him when he wanted to shut down the government. he was on erin burnett's show last night on cnn. he went after you, after you criticized him. listen to what he said. >> i don't know mr. king. i've never met him. to be honest, i don't think i'd ever heard of him until he started getting on television,

attacking me. he's welcome to express his opinion. >> basically, he's dismissing you as somebody presumably not very relevant. i don't know if you want to continue this conversation with senator cruz. >> sure, why not. ted cruz decided to be the center of his own universe, to live in his own world. to not know who the other members of congress are, the other members of the senate. maybe if he had listened to me over the years, he'd be a little smarter. i was i think the third highest republican on national television shows last year. i'm on your show all the time. that shows he's not watching you, wolf, so i think you should go after cruz for not watching you. >> maybe he doesn't know that like him, and i think like him, at least you're thinking about running for the republican presidential nomination, right? >> well, i'll be up in new hampshire this saturday. speaking at some republican events. what happens happens. i certainly hope ted cruz doesn't get the nomination. >> i'm looking forward to

hosting a debate men between you and senator ted cruise. that could be lively, right? >> first, he should find out what the issues are. apparently he's living in his own world. that's what happens. i look forward to that. as long as you're the moderator, it has to go well. >> it will be a responsible, fair debate, i can assure you. quickly, on dick cheney, given the blunders he had going into iraq back in 2003, he's now retired, do you really think it's appropriate he should be giving this president advice? >> the bottom line is that when president bush and advice president cheney left office in 2008, iraq had been secured. he handed over a successful operation in iraq to president obama. yeah, some rough moments along the way and some rough times along the way. the bottom line, in 2008, iraq was secure. al qaeda in iraq had been defeated. there were no attacks on american troops. iraq was functioning. and then the latest 2010, joe

biden said iraq was going to be be a great success and then the president i believe made a terrible mistake in pulling all the troops out. he couldn't get the status of forces agreement. which really was a failure of diplomacy for the president. >> you got to admit, going into it, 2003, that was a huge blunder to begin with. >> every intelligence agency in the world. wanted people to believe he had the weapons, and i still believe iraq was a much better place in 2008 with saddam hussein gone than it was in 2003 with him still there. with the capacity to produce chemical and biological weapons almost overnight if he had to. >> quickly, because we have to wrap it up. you voted to authorize the war back in the end of 2002, was that a mistake? >> no, absolutely not. i think iraq and the middle east and the world was a much safer place in 2008 after hussein had

been removed and a legitimate government had been installed and it was president obama who allowed that to collapse. >> peter king, let's get ready for a debate, maybe you and ted cruz. we'll see what happens. >> get the gloves. there you go. >> good luck in new hampshire this week. thanks very much for joining us. >> thank, wolf. >> tension in iraq growing. islamic militant group moving closer to baghdad. isis, as it's called, how did they get so powerful? we'll look at the threat they pose.

i suspect, first of all, we have a request from the iraqi government for air power. >> we do? >> we do. >> do you think it's an international security interest to honor that request? >> it's in our international security interest to counter

isil wherever we find them. >> general dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, appearing today before the senate committee, con firming the iraqi government does want the united states to use air support in the fight against the islamic militant group isis. joining us now, brian todd and our national security analyst peter bergen. brian, you've been looking into this group, isis. he calls it isil, but it's isis, the islamic state in iraq and syria. there's a little confusion there but it's the same organization. >> talking with analysts, you get the impression, a picture that this group is much better organized than previously thought. since the u.s. pullout in late 2011, they've been gradually building up their capability. bombings and assassinations is the general m.o. they target iraqi forces, iraqi cities, by doing that first, then they move in, they gather weapons, they get volunteers. once they're in a city, they

start this campaign of extortion. they intimidate local business owners to pay them protection money or they'll kill they gradually built up their capability and have got a lot of money now to conduct these campaigns by doing things like that. and it's -- you see the result of it right now. >> you studied al qaeda for a long time. we call this isis group an offshoot of al qaeda. is that accurate? >> yeah. i mean, they used to be called al qaeda in iraq back in the day. and -- >> then they changed their name. >> they changed their name as they expanded into syria. it's a distinction without a difference. for any shia living in iraq, either of the groups that come out of this al qaeda umbrella group are going to have the same attitude towards you. they're going to try and kill you. >> what's the connection now between isis and the core al qaeda group ayman al zawary? >> al qaeda essentially said we don't want you part of our

group, which is the first time they said to an affiliate we are not part of the group officially. but, you know, as a practical matter, these are -- these groups basically have the same ideology, taliban style rule. as brian mentioned, brutal tactics, and that's a problem because of encoded in their dna is their own defeat, because most people don't want to live under the taliban style rules they're offering. >> you have a question for peter. >> they have taken mosul and other big cities. once they move into these places are they going to be able to hold them under pressure from the iraqi military and other militaries? >> they held anbar province for two years, 2005-2006. i think it's a very good question. it's not a certainty. i mean, you know, if you have these very repressive tactics and make people very frightened, scared. but on the other hand, you know, it can backfire. >> here's what worries me.

i'll get your analysis. they've gone into mosul, the second largest city, taken it over. nearly 2 million people. they have looted the banks, stolen hundreds of millions of dollars in cash. and gold. they have gone through -- there's a lot of iraqi military equipment that they have just taken, mostly u.s.-supplied humvees, tanks, armor personnel carriers, shoulder-fire missiles, a lot of weaponry. they've got a lot of stuff and cash. al qaeda central doesn't have hundreds of millions of dollars to go ahead and do what they want to do. >> right. very little cash right now. this is a big problem, because they have turned themselves into what was essentially a terrorist group a few years back into an effective insurgent army taking large amounts of territory and arming themselves in a way they can hold territory for at least a period of time. >> a very worrisome situation. brian, you're working on this. working on the whole history of isis coming up in "the situation room" later today. peter, you're writing books, working on this stuff all of the time. thanks very much.

clean drinking water is a lit critical resource. up next, a closer look at how it technology could help prevent that nightmare scenario.

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california is facing historic drought conditions. to meet the growing demand for fresh water, scientists are tapping the pacific ocean. here's our rachel crane. >> reporter: with california experiencing one of the worst droughts in the state's history, access to fresh water has never been more important or more difficult. here in southern california, the largest desal nation plant in the western hemisphere is being constructed. it will soon take water from the ocean and create 50 million gallons of fresh water a day. >> california is in a serious drought right now. and any new water supplies are important to the region. >> we have $190 billion economy in this region that's dependent on water. the question you need to consider is, what's the cost of not having enough water? >> unlike, let's say, a water that comes from rainfall or

water that comes from snow pack, we're utilizing what essentially is the world's largest reservoir, the pacific ocean. >> reporter: the carlsbad desal nation plant will cost approximately $1 billion. the fresh water will be pumped ten miles underground to a regional delivery system. providing water to an additional 300,000 san diego county residents. customers, they won't know whether they're trig desal natured water or not. >> that's right. it will just become part of the overall supply. >> reporter: through a process called reverse osmosis, the plant will convert every 2 gallons of sea water into 1 gallon of fresh water, filtering out 99.9% of the salt. the salt, or brine, removed, is discharged back into the ocean. the desal nation process takes energy. a plant this size would use as much energy in a single day as 70 homes in a year. officials at the carlsbad plant say theirs will use 46% less energy.

the project is not without criticism. environmentalists point out that desal nation requires a lot of energy, and that brine discharge can negatively impact marine life. >> we're creating more marine wetlands south of san diego bay to create new habitat so fish can reproduce there. with respect to the brine discharge, we dilute the brine with sea water before it leaves the site. >> reporter: the plant is expected to be completed in 2016. >> everybody is ex extremely excited to see this project coming online and providing us with new water supply. >> that was rachel crane reporting. on this day in history, june 18th, 1966, u.s. senior military commander, general william wesmoreland requested increase of more than 100,000 troops in vietnam. his request was granted over a three-year period. and by 1969, more than 500,000 u.s. troops were in vietnam. vietnam is also the topic of

this week's episodes of the '60s. watch cnn or set your dvr for tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." "newsroom"with brooke baldwin starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com and here we go, top of the hour. i'm brooke baldwin. thank you for joining me here on cnn. we have just learned iraq, officially asked the united states to launch air strikes against the rebels who are seizing control of iraqi cities. right now, president obama and leaders of congress are getting ready to discuss this escalating crisis in iraq. live pictures of the white house. we know that will take place in the oval office in about an hour from now. this meeting could answer the big question. how will the u.s. respond, if at all? the political and economic stakes just got higher forhe